Project Got Your Back Is Serving Those Who Served

by Daniel Huss | Dec 2024

The smiling young adult male veteran listens to advice from the mature adult male therapist.

iStock/SDIProductions

Nonprofit helps veterans connect to programs.

“I think it’s the perfect name, and I wished I would have thought of it,” says Paul Davis, executive director of Project Got Your Back. “It’s descriptive and matches what we do.” The nonprofit, based in Bloomington, connects veterans with services with the mission of “connecting the unconnected.” As Davis says, “Resources are available, but not everyone knows what’s available.”

What are our Minnesota veterans looking for when it comes to resources? Employment opportunities top the list. Davis notes the topics of mental and physical health concerns are real, as are needs for legal services. Questions regarding navigating the Veterans Administration are commonplace. “We don’t have all the answers, but we’re really good at directing and navigating,” he says.

Project Got Your Back is a rebranding of the Veteran Small Business Foundation, an organization founded in 2013. “It started as an organization that helped veterans start their own businesses,” Davis says. Veterans seeking other types of help altered that focus. “We had to do more and rebranded in 2020–21, just before the pandemic,” he says.

Jeff McHenry, an Edina resident and a former noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, heard about Project Got Your Back while on a hunting trip with friends. One friend, Galon Miller, would always bring along the veterans he was mentoring.

“A lot of these were younger guys. I’m 60. I’m not a spring chicken,” McHenry says. “A lot of these guys had served in Iraq or Afghanistan. They were a part of this project I kept hearing about. We’d talk, tell stories because most of us were veterans, it was easy for them to talk to and understand some of the things they’ve gone through.”

McHenry decided to volunteer as a navigator in 2017. The Project Got Your Back model works by pairing navigators, like McHenry, with clients (veterans), including some in Edina. This professional relationship lasts for an entire year. To date, over 50 navigators have served nearly 150 clients.

“The crux of the organization is we get introduced to a veteran that has some needs. If you turn the TV on, if you open a newspaper, there’s all kinds of resources for veterans. There’s the [Veterans Administration], many organizations out there that are willing to help. But for a veteran who’s maybe dealing with PTSD or other issues to know who to call or where to turn, it’s overwhelming to them,” McHenry says. “They don’t know where to start. We connect them.”

Funding has to come from somewhere to keep the nonprofit on its feet. Programming is funded by sponsors and fundraisers. “We’re self-supporting and don’t charge for services,” Davis says.

There are multiple donors from the Edina area, and Davis is grateful for their contributions. “Support from the local community is the single most critical component in being able to provide our life-changing services to local veterans and their families for absolute zero cost,” he says. “We truly appreciate their participation and support.”